The efficacy of a brief app-based mindfulness intervention on psychosocial outcomes in healthy adults: A pilot randomised controlled trial

Champion, Louise; Economides, Marcos; Chandler, Chris

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0209482

Cited by 194 publications

(171 citation statements)

References 63 publications

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“…The majority of Headspace studies employed samples of university students or residents [ 29 - 35 ], samples of employees [ 36 , 37 ], or clinical samples [ 38 , 39 ]. Only 3 studies of Headspace used community samples, and these participants were predominantly self-selecting, white, well-educated [ 40 , 41 ], and living in Australia [ 40 ] or the United Kingdom [ 42 ]. This contrasts with the sample of this study, which was recruited from a cohort of women representative of the area, of whom 35% were African Americans, only 39% had a college education or higher, and which took place in southern coastal Louisiana, an area that has been subject to quite a few natural and man-made disasters in recent years.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feasibility and Acceptability of a Mobile Mindfulness Meditation Intervention Among Women: Intervention Study

Rung¹,

Oral²,

Berghammer³

et al. 2020

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

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Background Traditional mindfulness-based stress reduction programs are resource intensive for providers and time- and cost-intensive for participants, but the use of mobile technologies may be particularly convenient and cost-effective for populations that are busy, less affluent, or geographically distant from skilled providers. Women in southern Louisiana live in a vulnerable, disaster-prone region and are highly stressed, making a mobile program particularly suited to this population. Objective This study aimed to (1) assess the feasibility and acceptability of a mobile mindfulness app in real-world conditions in a pilot study of a community sample of women residing in southern Louisiana, (2) describe predictors of app usage, and (3) assess the effect of the app on secondary health outcomes. Methods Women were recruited from an oil spill study on health. A total of 236 women completed a baseline survey, were offered the mobile mindfulness program, and completed a follow-up survey. Subjects were asked to download and use the app for at least 30 days for 10 min. All study procedures were completed on the web. Primary outcomes were feasibility and acceptability of the app and characteristics of app utilization. Secondary outcomes included mindfulness, depression, perceived stress, sleep quality, physical activity, BMI, and healthy eating. Results Overall, 74.2% (236/318) of subjects completed the follow-up survey, and 13.5% (43/318) used the app. The main barrier to app usage was lack of time, cited by 37% (16/43) of users and 48.7% (94/193) of nonusers of the app. Women who chose to use the app were more highly educated (16/43, 63% had a college education vs 65/193, 33.7% of nonparticipants; P<.001), had higher incomes (23/43, 58% had incomes >US $50,000 per year vs 77/193, 43.0% of nonparticipants), and were employed (34/43, 79% vs 122/193, 63.2% of nonparticipants; P=.047). Those who engaged with the app did so at high levels, with 72% (31/43) of participants self-reporting the completion of some or all sessions and 74% (32/43) reporting high levels of satisfaction with the app. Participation with the app had a beneficial impact on depression (odds ratio [OR] 0.3, 95% CI 0.11-0.81), sleep quality (OR 0.1, 95% CI 0.02-0.96), sleep duration (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.07-0.86), sleep latency (OR 0.3, 95% CI 0.11-0.81), and physical activity (2.8 95% CI 1.0-7.8), but mindfulness scores did not change from baseline to follow-up. Conclusions The Headspace mobile mindfulness app was easy and cost-effective to implement and acceptable to those who participated, but few women elected to try it. The unique characteristics of this southern Louisiana population suggest that more intense promotion of the benefits of mindfulness training is needed, perhaps in conjunction with some therapist or researcher support. Several short-term benefits of the app were identified, particularly for depression and sleep.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feasibility and Acceptability of a Mobile Mindfulness Meditation Intervention Among Women: Intervention Study

Rung¹,

Oral²,

Berghammer³

et al. 2020

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

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“…This is consistent with a previous study, which found that participants with higher levels of distress were likely to benefit from application-based mindfulness intervention more than those with a lower level of distress. [ 30 ] However, the findings also put forward the question of whether iMBIs should be remolded to suit specific individuals. A review has reported that mindfulness training with a focus on self-compassion is particularly effective in reducing stress and enhancing professional skills among health care workers who are vulnerable to stress overload and compassion fatigue due to an emotionally exhausting environment.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is noticeable, however, that only two included studies reported the effect of application-based MBIs on stress. [ 30 , 35 ] Due to the small size of the sample and high heterogeneity across the studies, the findings should be interpreted with caution.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A meta-analysis: Internet mindfulness-based interventions for stress management in the general population

2020

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Background: Psychological stress was an important mental health problem among the general population and warrant research to inform strategies for effective prevention. iMBIs provide a possibility to offer easily accessible, efficacious, convenient, and low-cost interventions on a wide scale. However, the efficacy of iMBIs in the general population remains unclear. The aim of this meta-analysis is to evaluate the effects of iMBIs for stress reduction in the general population. Methods: A systematic search in PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Medline, Cochrane Library, CNKI, and Wanfang Data databases was performed up to April 10, 2019. The overall effect sizes of the iMBIs on stress, depression, anxiety, and mindfulness were recorded by the metric of Hedges’ g with 95% confidence interval (CI), Z-value, and P value. Results: Sixteen eligible studies were included in the meta-analysis. The overall results indicated that iMBIs had small to moderate effects on stress (Hedges’ g = −0.393) and mindfulness (Hedges’ g = −0.316) compared with the control group. Results from subgroup analyses revealed that the type of sample and delivery mode had a greater impact on heterogeneity across the studies. Meta-regression found that the overall effect might be moderated by guidance for iMBIs. Conclusion: The present meta-analysis suggested that iMBIs had small to moderate effects in reducing stress and improving mindfulness of the general population in comparison with the control group. Future research is needed to explore how iMBIs are remolded to improve adherence and suit specific individuals.

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“…Furthermore, participants averaged 103 min/week of podcast listening or viewing. Other studies that have tested mobile-app control groups have not reported weekly participation data [ 13 , 26 ]. In our research studies in which we used a commercially available meditation app in college students for 8 weeks [ 15 ] and to patients with MPN cancer for 4 weeks [ 16 ], average weekly participation in meditation on the app was ~38 min/week and ~71 min/week, respectively.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Meditation apps have become quite popular in recent years [ 4 , 10 ] and have been used to improve mental and physical health in a range of healthy [ 7 , 11 - 15 ] and health-compromised populations [ 16 , 17 ]. However, few mobile app meditation studies have used active, time-matched, and attention-matched comparators [ 7 , 13 , 14 , 18 ] even when the study primarily aimed to determine effectiveness or efficacy. The most common comparators for these studies have been wait-list control groups, usual care, and educational handouts [ 12 , 15 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Novel Educational Control Group Mobile App for Meditation Interventions: Single-Group Feasibility Trial

Huberty¹,

Eckert²,

Puzia³

et al. 2020

JMIR Form Res

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Background Smartphone ownership is becoming ubiquitous among US adults, making the delivery of health interventions via a mobile app (ie, mobile health [mHealth]) attractive to many researchers and clinicians. Meditation interventions have become popular and have been delivered to study participants via mobile apps to improve a range of health outcomes in both healthy adults and those with chronic diseases. However, these meditation mHealth interventions have been limited by a lack of high-quality control groups. More specifically, these studies have lacked consistency in their use of active, time-matched, and attention-matched control groups. Objective The purpose of this study is to beta test a novel health education podcast control condition delivered via a smartphone app that would be a strong comparator to be used in future studies of app-based meditation interventions. Methods Patients with myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) cancer were recruited nationally. Upon enrollment, participants were informed to download the investigator-developed health education podcast app onto their mobile phone and listen to ~60 min/week of cancer-related educational podcasts for 12 weeks. The benchmarks for feasibility included ≥70% of participants completing ≥70% of the prescribed 60 min/week of podcasts, ≥70% of participants reporting that they were satisfied with the intervention, and ≥70% of participants reporting that they enjoyed the health education podcasts. Results A total of 96 patients with MPN were enrolled in the study; however, 19 never began the intervention. Of the 77 patients who participated in the intervention, 39 completed the entire study (ie, sustained participation through the follow-up period). Participation averaged 103.2 (SD 29.5) min/week. For 83.3% (10/12) of the weeks, at least 70% of participants completed at least 70% of their total prescribed use. Almost half of participants reported that they enjoyed the health education podcasts (19/39, 48.7%) and were satisfied with the intervention (17/39, 43.6%). There were no significant changes in cancer-related outcomes from baseline to postintervention. Conclusions A 12-week, health education podcast mobile app was demanded but not accepted in a sample of patients with cancer. Using the mobile app was not associated with significant changes in cancer-related symptoms. Based on findings from this study, a health education podcast mobile app may be a feasible option as a time- and attention-matched control group for efficacy trials with more extensive formative research for the content of the podcasts and its acceptability by the specific population. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03907774; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03907774

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The efficacy of a brief app-based mindfulness intervention on psychosocial outcomes in healthy adults: A pilot randomised controlled trial

Cited by 194 publications

References 63 publications

Feasibility and Acceptability of a Mobile Mindfulness Meditation Intervention Among Women: Intervention Study

Feasibility and Acceptability of a Mobile Mindfulness Meditation Intervention Among Women: Intervention Study

A meta-analysis: Internet mindfulness-based interventions for stress management in the general population

A Novel Educational Control Group Mobile App for Meditation Interventions: Single-Group Feasibility Trial

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